red riding hood | void stiles [au]

ten ; present

CHAPTER TEN ; REVEALS

FAILURE DIDN'T SIT WELL with Scott McCall. It was like it took a toll on him externally like it did internally, dark circles and furrowed eyebrows accompanying the unsettling feeling he felt in his stomach, but he was far from giving up hope. There was still time, there was still a reason to keep fighting, as far as the true alpha was concerned, and he refused to be blinded by the fear that the spirit who killed his first love and almost killed his best friend was back.

Answers seemed to be one of things he was most concerned about, because he wanted to know why and how everything happened, since he was sure that it would be helpful if he knew the whole story. So many questions sprouted in his mind that he relied on Stiles to fill, but oddly the clumsy teenager wasn't here next to him while he visited an unconscious Lydia Martin, which was only one of the things that made the werewolf uneasy about this entire predicament. What was the connection between the mysterious girl that he had yet to meet and the murderous nogitsune? Why isn't Lydia waking up? And why the hell wasn't Stiles Stilinski hovering over the strawberry blonde that he's been obsessed with since the 3rd grade?

It didn't take long for Scott to figure out things didn't quite make sense even with being exhausted and drastically worried about his friends, and a part of him, that instinct that he has the tendency to follow, told him he was a lot closer to the problem than he thought. The pack may be down an intelligent mind, but Scott McCall was not an idiot, and he knew that it was primarily up to him in this moment to figure things out. So he attempted to remember the last time the fox played his tricks on him and his friends, looking for the little signs he ignored when his best friend was possessed, though the werewolf had to admit that there was times where he didn't suspect a thing due to the fact the trickster knew what he was doing.

Still, he tried to recall, knowing that there must of been something, an off look he gave him, a smile that was a little too demented, though even if the creature did accidentally slip up, how was Scott supposed to know? He trusted his best friend with everything he had and the alpha never would have guessed that the aftermath of sacrificing themselves to the Nematon would affect him like that, would make him vulnerable to possession from a dark kitsune. So after thinking, the tanned-skinned teenager concluded that he wouldn't know anything for sure unless he confronted him, tested him, to see if the pale, spastic boy really was the Stiles everyone knew and loved. He would have to take yet another risk, but that was okay as long as nobody else got hurt.

After pecking the banshee on the forehead and making sure the light blue hospital blanket was pulled up around her, Scott left the room, managing to send Lydia's mother, Natalie, a sad smile just as she passed him, coming back from getting herself a coffee. The hardworking women looked more strained and tired than her daughter's friend, frustrated beyond believe that no one knew how to help her baby girl, but there was not much she could do except be there and hold her hand. Though both of them refused to believe that she wouldn't wake up from her comatose state.

The true alpha deciphered Natalie's pained expression easily, understanding even further that he had to beat this, he had to figure everything out, he had to do what he always seems to do—he had to help. So with that motivation running through him, his phone found its way into his hand, thumbs touching the screen as he composed a text message to Stiles, saying something along the lines of meeting up at his house later. There, Scott decided, he would be able to find out the truth, to see if his best friend really slipped away again without him noticing, and he hoped with everything he had that he was wrong. He wanted to be so wrong.

Keys were taken out of the pocket of his jacket once he exited the place and found himself in the parking lot, eyes searching for his mother's car that she had let him graciously borrow, but uncontrollably he was distracted. Thoughts swirled around in his mind, running through every bad situation that he didn't want to come true, and he wondered that if this time was different, that he wouldn't be able to save the people he wanted to save. No, the werewolf interjected his doubts suddenly, I can't think like that. Now was not the time to be hopeless and Scott knew that, it was one of the things that made him a great leader, because there was always a way, there had to be.

He was startled once he caught sight of the parked, powder-blue Jeep in the parking spot next to his own car, and the alpha immediately turned around once he felt a presence behind him. "Stiles?"

"Hey. Is she, um, okay?" The fair-skinned boy questioned him, voice purposely breaking in the middle, watching the werewolf in front of him intently with his saddened eyes.

"She's stable." Scott answered simply, swallowing hard while looking into Stiles' amber eyes that usually held their own particular glow, and inexplicably he just knew without any logical proof backing it up. This was not the person he considered his brother.

The immense emotion that radiated off of him provided quite a delicious meal to the wicked nogitsune, though he picked up when it abruptly got even more intense, and despite Scott's composure, the heartbreak in his puppy-dog eyes gave it away. Pure anger—no, rage even—was felt and more importantly directed towards the trickster who previously thought seconds earlier that he still had the true alpha fooled, but realization hit him also, and he figured out that the broken teenager had finally saw him for what he truly was. Luckily though for him, he was prepared for Scott to randomly come to his senses, a plan already forming in his clever head.

Before the werewolf's claws could grow out or before his imitating, sharp fangs could appear as he let out a growl, the fox had already acted, using his strength to shove Scott brutally against the side of the Jeep, an excruciating pain spreading through his back at the impact. Venom had returned to coat over Stiles' eyes that had now darkened presumably, letting his dangerousness show, and the wolfsbane that his partner loyally stole for him was in his grasp. Hatred was in the air, behind every menacing glare they sent each other and even the thoughts they were thinking directed towards one another, a fight certainly about to take place.

Scott moved to get away from being pressed up against his friend's vehicle, but the demented creature wasn't allowing that, clasping his hand around the raven-haired boy's throat and squeezing hard, oxygen struggling to be breathe in. To defend himself, the werewolf started to claw him, red eyes glowing fiercely, and just as he got in a few good swipes and was using his strength to get the dark kitsune off of him, Void managed to unscrew the vile. Since Scott's mouth was already open in order to intake what little air he could, the poisonous liquid effortlessly was poured down his throat, an unbearable, burning sensation automatically taking affect.

The fox watched as Scott coughed with struggle, uncontrollably too focused on the pain to put in all of his effort to fight back even though he wanted to so much. Out of everything he didn't want this harmful, supernatural creature to win, to hurt him, but a part of him was glad that it was him and wasn't another person he loved. The alpha thought that if anyone had to take on the torture by the villain, it should be him, because he swore to protect his pack in any way possible, even if it resulted in his own death. Scott McCall was selfless like that.

Void felt his enemy give up and fall limp in his hold, the choking and the wolfsbane being more than enough to make him weak and pass out, and his lips were turned up into a cruel grin, satisfied with how things went. Internally the trickster decided that Scott wouldn't die just yet, that the irritating, gracious teenager deserved to watch everyone he loves die first, and finally when he's practically begging for it to end, that's when the fox will do it. He'll kill him, slowly, watching life drain from his features. For now, he'll just have a little fun with him.